Paramedic Services

The Paramedic portfolio has two primary objectives. The first is to develop Science and Technology (S&T) solutions that meet national paramedic services requirements and fit within the scope of the CSSP program. The second is to inform decisions pertaining to paramedic operations and policy through proactive dissemination and sharing of S&T information and knowledge that is relevant to stakeholders within and external to the paramedic community. To achieve these objectives, the portfolio performs the following primary functions1:

Identify operational and/or policy gaps that warrant research, investigation, scientific analysis, or the building of collaborative networks to develop solutions;

Prioritize the operational and/or policy gaps through an analysis that aligns the needs of the paramedic services within the scope of the annual CSSP Planning process and associated investment instruments.

Influence the development and implementation of solutions to the operational/policy gaps that are relevant to the community and meet operational and/or policy requirements within the scope of the project charter;

Disseminate/Transition the program outputs to the national stakeholders to ensure the full potential of the new knowledge or technology is realized; and

Assess the impact of Program outputs upon the community, in line with CSSP established values and metrics. Use the assessment results to inform future planning.

The Paramedic portfolio engages the Paramedic Chiefs of Canada, the Paramedic Association of Canada, provincial associations, and other domestic and international committees to understand current and emerging issues that affect the paramedic service in Canada. The portfolio collaborates with the Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology, as well as other research organizations such as universities and standards development organizations. Federally, the Portfolio is maturing relationships with Departments such as Public Safety Canada, Health Canada, and the Public Health Agency of Canada.

To enable knowledge sharing within the community and to provide strategic advice to CSS the Paramedic Community of Practice (CoP) was created to engage with multiple organizations within the paramedic domain. Membership represents a broad spectrum of organizations that are vital to informing the future of the paramedic services in Canada. These include members from national associations, research organizations, as well as private sector, academic, media, and standards development organizations.

1As per the DRDC Centre for Security Science:Organizational Roles, Responsibilities and Accountabilities (2013)